Ebisoba Ichigen (一幻拉麵) is a pretty popular ramen shop from Sapporo, Hokkaido. After successfully launching in Asian countries like Taiwan and Malaysia, they have finally opened their first branch in Hong Kong. I recalled walking past their Harbour City branch more than a zillion times before but every time I decided to have something else instead. I guess there are just way too many options down there in Tsim Sha Tsui.
I figured I have a much better chance of visiting their Wanchai branch (since it's close to my office) and turned out I was right! Their signature ramen with shrimp head soup has long been on my radar screen so I'm really looking forward to this.
Ebi Mazesoba ($88) - Ramen in an intense shrimp broth, with BBQ pork, soft-boiled egg and bamboo shoot. There are three levels of richness when it comes to their patented ramen soup made with shrimp head - original, mild and rich. Since it was my first time here, I decided to go with their "original" broth to test the waters.
I thought the broth wasn't bad. I love a ramen broth with rich and thick flavor, and this probably didn't have enough "heaviness" to it, at least not to my standard. But it was close. The shrimp flavor could be stronger too so I guess I will go for the "rich" broth on my next visit.
Oh, by the way, I liked the pickled red ginger tempura made into crumbs to give the noodles a bit more texture.
I have tried about half a dozen Japanese ramen shop the past few weeks but I have yet to be blown away. Perhaps, there's something about those secret little ramen shops in Japan that we could never get in Hong Kong?
Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop B, G/F, Yan King Court, 119-121 Queen`s Road East, Wanchai, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Wanchai
Tel: +852 2789-3799
Website: www.ebisoba.com.hk
Every time I walk by BÊP (Vietnamese for "Vietnamese Kitchen") on Staunton Street, the place always seems to be full of happy faces. I thought to myself, the food there must be pretty darn good. So, when I first learned they've opened an outlet at Olympian City, I decided to bring my family down.
It was pretty early so not surprisingly, lots of empty seats.
Ca Tim Chien Nhoi Tom (煎釀小茄子) ($58) - Vietnamese stuffed baby eggplant. They had the baby eggplants cut into flower bud shape before stuffing them full with shrimp mousse. Very tasty and surprisingly not as oily as I thought.
Pho Tai (生牛肉粉) ($80) - Vietnamese noodle soup with thinly sliced sirloin cooked medium rare. Yeah, no way we're going to leave without this fan favorite.
I grew up with a ton of Vietnamese restaurants in Canada but never genuinely liked the cuisine, particularly pho or noodle soup because I thought the broth was way too flavorful and herby for me. But this one at BÊP was an outlier. The broth was really lightly seasoned which was more up my alley.
Bun Xuong Nuong (燒豬扒撈檬) ($88) - Rice vermicelli with pan roasted honey glaze pork cutlet. One of my favorite dishes from Vietnamese cuisine and there aren't that many of them. The pork cutlet was seriously tasty and I like the rice vermicelli which was again lightly seasoned without going over the top.
Cai Lan Mam (蝦米仔芥蘭苗) ($58) - The crunchy Chinese kale was tossed in a sweet soy sauce with crushed peanuts and Vietnamese dried shrimps.
Very rare would you associate Vietnamese food (or Asian food) with eating healthy but tonight, that was exactly how I felt. Healthy food! Asian food (such as Thai) are often associated with the heavy use of spices and herbs but tonight's dinner at BÊP demonstrated that they could do it with less oil and seasoning as well. I guess I won't mind coming back again for more in the future.
Food Rating: 5.5/10
Price: $$
Address: G/F, G70 Olympian City 2, Tai Kok Tsui, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Olympic
Tel: +852 2385-3777
Website: www.bep.hk
For months, news about Lin Heung Tea House (蓮香樓) closing after a run of more than 100 years on Wellington Street in Central has been circulating everywhere. Old and young generations pour in for one last meal at this historic dim sum restaurant before its imminent closure. But in case you live near the Tsuen Wan district, consider yourself very lucky because Central's loss is Tsuen Wan's gain.
The famed tea house has quietly opened a sister restaurant also called Lin Heung Tea House (蓮香棧) at Luk Yeung Galleria (綠楊坊).
It's nice to see these Lin Heung tea pots and cups. Thought we would never see them again.
Unlike most yum cha restaurants in Hong Kong, Lin Heung does not have the biggest dim sum menu. Instead, they offer certain traditional dishes which are very hard to find elsewhere including pork liver siu mai and steamed Chinese sausage rolls. And all of these dishes are rolled out piping hot on the traditional trolleys.
Apart from their old school dim sums, they also have a highly underrated barbecued pork (叉燒), or char siu which is one of my favorites in the city.
This is a really nice piece of pork belly with just the perfect proportion of fat and muscle.
A trip to Lin Heung won't be complete without checking out their signature lotus seed paste buns (蓮蓉包).
I love the pillowy bun and the sweetness of the silky smooth lotus seed paste was right on the money.
Food Rating: 5/10
Price: $$
Address: Shop P9-9A, L1/F, Luk Yeung Galleria, 22-66 Wai Tsuen Road, NT, Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Tsuen Wan
Tel: +852 2498-6330
After 10 amazing days in Europe, it’s about time we return to the concrete city that we call home. Since it’s still officially the first month of Lunar Chinese Year, we decided to gather some close friends and meet up for the exchange of pleasantries (and red pockets). Jelloman was tasked with finding a place for dinner and she made an interesting pick - Peking Garden in Central, a touristy Chinese restaurant that used to have a Michelin star.
I have never dined here before but I knew all about their traditional Chinese decor, live demonstrations of noodle-making and of course, their signature duck carving at table side.
Braised pork (東坡肉) - No one will say no to these fatty pork belly especially around Chinese New Year since "fat" sounds like "rich" in Cantonese. I thought it was a very tasty dish to start the meal and the sauce had a real nice sweet-sour balance too.
Smoked vegetable roll (茶燻素鵝) - Another plus dish with smoky cabbage wrapping round the vegetable straws in the middle. That's two in a roll.
Scrambled egg white with minced fish and conpoy (芙蓉賽螃蟹) - And they made it three in a roll with this scrambled egg white dish. They did it the old fashioned way too by adding minced fish to the egg white.
Sautéed beef with scallion (蔥爆牛肉) - This dish was for all the meat lovers out there in our group. Thought the beef was pretty tender and the wok-fried scallion provided that lovely extra kick.
Steamed dumpling with pork and supreme soup (無錫灌湯小籠包) - Not bad.
Barbecued Peking duck (烤北京填鴨) - Here comes the main event, the duck carving at table side. I thought the kids would love it but they all went for the noodle making session instead.
We ended up with two full plates of these.
As a purist, I normally just add a few drops of hoisin and a piece of cucumber to my wrap. That's it. No scallion and no heavy seasoning to run the duck please. This was a little tastier than I thought. Perhaps, I haven't had Peking duck for a while?
Crispy lettuce wrap with diced duck (鴨崧生菜包) - As the second part of our Peking duck feast, we ordered the crispy lettuce wrap.
This came with the usual suspect including diced duck (of course), pine nuts, celery etc. Pretty nice.
This meal didn't taste like any other ones we had at Peking Garden before. In fact, the food seemed much better here. Is it really the case that they put their best chef right here in Central or just that we miss Chinese food so much from our European trip?
Food Rating: 6/10
Price: $$$
Address: Shop B1, Basement 1, Alexandra House, 16-20 Chater Road, Central, Hong Kong
Closest Metro Station: Central
Tel: +852 2526-6456
I couldn't believe our 60 hours in Madrid have breezed by so quickly. All of a sudden, we were already packing up and getting ready for our flight back to Hong Kong. As it's our last night in the Spanish capital, Jelloman and I decided to have a walk near our hotel one last time before calling it the night.
Founded in 1881, Chocolatería Valor (Spanish for "Value") is one of the largest chocolate producers in Spain with its headquarters in Alicante. Apart from its retail side of the business (their chocolate bars could be found in almost every supermarkets in Spain), they also have a number of chocolate cafés in different parts of the country including five in Madrid. This is going to be our last stop in Madrid before taking off early tomorrow.
We've already visited a couple of century-old establishments in Madrid (first Chocolatería San Ginés, and then Restaurante Botín). This café is probably not as old but should be pretty close.
They reserved a corner of the café for their bread and butter, which are their chocolate. There were different types of them including chocolate bon bons and truffles.
Wait, is that the kitchen where they make their homemade churros? Can't wait to try those out myself.
But first, an ice-cold chocolate to start things off on this hot winter night. Not bad.
These churros were noticeably darker in color comparing to those at Chocolatería San Ginés. They were really crunchy and I thought at times too hard for my teeth to handle.
Food Rating: 4.5/10
Price: €€
Address: Calle del Postigo de San Martín, 7, 28013 Madrid, Spain
Closest Metro Station: Callao
Tel: +34 915-229288
Website: www.valor.es
We walked past Yakitoro by Chicote on our first night in Madrid and the place was absolutely buzzing. Judging from the happy faces inside the restaurant, I was guessing the food must be pretty darn good (I know the vibe was). But then Japanese skewers were probably the last thing we would consider having in Madrid right?
Yakitoro, a concept inspired by the traditional Japanese yakitori tavern, is opened by Spanish celebrity chef Alberto Chicote, who's a chef, restaurateur and famous Spanish TV host known for his unique take on fusion cuisine.
The traditional Japanese yakitori (specialty shops famous for their skewered chicken) is given a stylish twist with an eclectic mix of modern chic décor highlighted by the sleek open kitchen.
I thought for sure they would be using an electric grill here but to my pleasant surprise, they had a couple of charcoal grills installed to preserve the authenticity.
For a place known for its chicken skewers (or yakitori), it was a bit surprising to find only a handful of chicken dishes on the food menu (7 to be exact). That was odd.
Fresh shiitake mushroom (4.00 Euro) - This was grilled very lightly (no charred marks) and finished with a touch of smoked bonito shavings and garlic. Decent.
Asparagus ice-cream with trout roes and peanuts (5.80 Euro) - I finally saw some of that creative flair Chef Chicote is known for with this dish.
The scoop of asparagus ice-cream was topped with shredded asparagus and finished with trout roes, crushed peanuts and a spicy soy. I bet it's a fairly nice and refreshing dish to have in a hot summer day. The results weren't nearly as good in a chilly winter night but I appreciate the creativity there.
Wagyu ribs meat, teriyaki sauce (7.40 Euro) - The signature dish recommended by our server turned out to be the worst of the evening. Very rubbery. And I thought the gluey teriyaki sauce was bad news.
Grilled Iberian pork with sweet mustard vinaigrette (5.80 Euro) - The Iberian pork was super tender but the secret recipe of sweet mustard vinaigrette was the obvious difference maker here. Pretty nice.
Chicken glazed with Chinese barbecue sauce (4.90 Euro) - We only got ourselves one of chicken skewers because the rest were all spicy. And both mom and little guy don't eat spicy. This came with a homemade guacamole dip, made primarily with avocado.
It was so tasty that we had to get another order of this after the first one.
Madrid style stew with Yuyao tagliatelle (10.40 Euro) - Little guy was feeling hungry all night so we got him some ramen, or what they called Yaki-ramen. I am assuming it's ramen noodles with some serious twist.
This one came with carrots, potatoes, chorizos and other ingredients one might find from a Madrid style stew. I could live with the Spanish twist but the broth was just way too weird for my liking. Honestly, I couldn't come up with the words to describe the taste of the broth. I'll just leave it at that.
Chicken fricassee with e-chang noodles (10.60 Euro) - This came with a yellowish broth that tasted a bit like curry but it's a very light one.
The noodles were noticeably a bit more similar to Japanese ramen noodles. And I was so glad to see the tried and true combination of ramen noodles with poached egg and chicken. Hey, this tasted pretty "normal".
We still got bags to pack tonight so despite an urge to check out their dessert menu, we decided to settle the bill and head back to our hotel early. This is really goodbye, Madrid. Thanks for the hospitality. Hopefully, we'll be back in the not-so-distant future.
I thought this was one of the weirdest yakitori and ramen experience I've had all around. The fusion concept wasn't a bad one but there were clearly way too many hit-and-misses, most noticeably the two ramen noodles. I hope the locals who haven't been to Japan before, won't mistake these as authentic Japanese flavors!
Food Rating: 4/10
Price: €€€
Address: Calle de la Reina, 41, 28004 Madrid, Spain
Closest Metro Station: Sevilla
Tel: +34 917-371441
Website: www.yakitoro.com
